


What Moves Us Is More Than Gravity

by savanting



Series: Kashimalin's 50 Kisses Challenge [16]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Force Dyad (Star Wars), Hugs, Kissing, Not Canon Compliant, One Shot, Post-Canon, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Romance, Short One Shot, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, The World Between Worlds (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27763819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanting/pseuds/savanting
Summary: The dyad has been broken, and Ben Solo exists in a place between life and death. One-Shot.[Prompt 47. A kiss paired with a tight hug, knocking the breath out of the person being hugged.]Using Kashimalin's 50 kisses prompt list: https://www.google.com/amp/s/kashimalin-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/178524845380/50-kiss-prompts/amp
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Kashimalin's 50 Kisses Challenge [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023708
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	What Moves Us Is More Than Gravity

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own _Star Wars_ in any capacity.
> 
> @Five_seas chose the prompt and gave me free reign over the pairing - so I fell back on Rey/Ben pretty easily. It was either this or Ahsoka/Mando from _The Mandalorian_ (since I just saw episode 13 - whoo!). Ben and Rey do need a reunion in canon, though. Maybe someday?
> 
> The link to the prompt list: https://www.google.com/amp/s/kashimalin-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/178524845380/50-kiss-prompts/amp

When Ben Solo awoke, he saw a scatter of stars - so many, they were countless, each one a tiny burning flame in the galaxy. He lifted a hand to stare at it, to see the flow of veins through his pale skin, as if he were a miracle unto himself.

He didn’t expect to be alive, not after the stand-off with Palpatine. Even more so, he didn’t expect to feel _normal_ : his last conscious memory had been filled with pain like he had never known before, each limb screaming in agony as he had fought his way to Rey’s side.

 _Rey._ The name was a rush of cold air to his senses. He looked around him, trying to reach out with his senses, but the Force - was dead silent. He could no longer feel the ebb and flow of energy around him. It was like losing a sense, as if he had gone blind or could no longer experience touch.

 _Where am I?_ The darkness was deep, a contrast to the brightness of the stars. It felt like one of his old nightmares, where the dark spoke to him in a voice like a hiss, where loneliness felt like a burden he would always carry.

Ben closed his eyes and reached out his senses, but there was nothing. It was as if he had been divorced from the Force, the one companion he had always had since birth. The Force had never betrayed him - so what was happening now?

If he could have conjured up anything right then, he would have called Rey to his side. She would have fallen into his arms, squeezing him tight like he was her one rock in the grand scheme of the universe, and she would whisper how she had been looking for him all this time. She would say they were two halves of the same whole and that she could never have lived if he hadn’t been alive somewhere out there beyond the stars.

He would have whispered words of comfort to her, of promise and hope, things he assumed had died in him long, long ago.

So Ben Solo waited. In this plane beyond the touch of the Force, he knew someday she would find him - whatever the cost.

*

He had lost track of time. This wasn’t like Rey’s AT-AT, the one he had once glimpsed in her memories, where she had etched each day into metal. Time was fluid on this plane, but it was quiet, no wind or sound or even the hum of the Force.

It was a lonely existence with no purpose, and his every moment was strung with the static of his racing thoughts.

Soon, what else would be left of him?

A year might have passed, or a hundred, or thousands. Ben supposed this was his ultimate punishment: the Force had left him, the galaxy had rejected him, and this world would eat up what else remained of him.

Until the day a spark ignited before him. A shooting star.

And then Rey was there.

It wasn’t the Rey he had known. This woman’s face was lined with time and strain, her brown hair having gone white, yet she wasn’t stooped with age. This woman was still standing tall with the grace of a Jedi knight.

“Ben,” she said - and the sound was full of relief, of acceptance, of _hope_.

He still remembered how to smile. “I’d nearly lost track of how long I’ve waited. It’s been a long time.”

The woman, who seemed more stranger now, closed the gap between them slowly - and with each movement something began to change. The years melted from her face, and soon she was the old Rey again - the one who had kissed him, the last one whose face he had seen before he had faded into the great flow of the Force.

“I would have come sooner,” she said, and he could see the gleam of tears in her eyes. “You’ve been so hard to find.”

His mood turned melancholy. What had she seen, experienced, in all this time? But the questions would linger for later. Now, in this realm between worlds, there was enough time to reacquaint with each other. To make up for lost time. To forgive and cherish and renew.

“I tried,” he said softly. “I tried to reach out, but I couldn’t. The Force has left me.”

She nodded, as if the news didn’t surprise her. “The Force doesn’t flow here,” she said. “It’s a dead zone. It’s a wonder I was finally able to break through.”

Ben had nearly forgotten what it was like to be corporeal. He found it was an effort just to move his limbs. “I’m sorry,” he said, still remembering the courtesy of apology and the ways of normal life. “I would hug you, but I seem to have forgotten how to move properly.”

Rey kneeled down before him, close enough that he could see the depth of the eyes that had haunted his memories for eons. Before he could say a word, she had wrapped her arms around him and settled her head on his shoulder. Even in life, he had not often been hugged, not even by his mother. His mother. He hadn’t thought of her in a long time.

If he had still been able to breathe like in life, he was sure Rey would have squeezed the breath out of him.

Ben sighed, feeling the back of her hair and the buns she still wore. Such a strange thing to remember. “I’m so relieved,” he said. “You don’t know how relieved I am to see you, Rey.”

Then she had pulled away, looking into his eyes, and the next moment she was kissing him. It was a lingering kiss, less brief than the one that had joined them together before he had faded into the Force, and he was learning anew the sensations that came with being alive.

It took effort, but finally he was able to hold her tight.

“I don’t ever want to let you go,” he said.

“I won’t ever let _you_ go,” she said, “not now that I’ve found you again.”

“Then it’s a promise,” Ben murmured.

“It’s a promise,” Rey agreed.

The realm between worlds shivered around them, and the Force began to flow again in that once-dark part of the galaxy. The dyad had been made whole again.

But Rey Skywalker and Ben Solo were now free - together, as they had never been in life.


End file.
